The two essays by Eli Siegel printed here were written (I surmise) fairly early in his teaching of Aesthetic Realism. The first, “What Has Aesthetics to Do with Feeling Bad?,” along with explaining what had never been explained before, is a description of the philosophy Aesthetic Realism itself.

The second, on “Why People Don’t Sleep,” is about something that has agonized human beings for thousands of years. There has been eloquent, even beautiful writing on the subject. There is, for instance, this, of Shakespeare:

And there has been writing that’s bright and witty—like this, of Dorothy Parker: “How do people go to sleep? I’m afraid I’ve lost the knack.”

Meanwhile, insomnia, in all its misery, has continued—because, without Aesthetic Realism, it has not been understood. Today, prescription sleep medication is a multibillion-dollar industry—testimony to the fact that psychiatry has not known why people don’t sleep and so has not solved the problem. It is equally unknowing about the tremendous subject of the first essay: why people dislike themselves.

Aesthetic Realism sees these matters, with all their personal turbulence, in a way that gives a deep dignity to the human self….Read more